Hammer-operated rotary waste crushers

ABSTRACT

A crusher for garbage, waster material and like products, devoid of grates and grate cleaners, constituted by a channel subdivided into superposed preferably identical sections enclosed between vertical sidewalls and parallel oblique front and rear walls, the obliquity of the walls in any two successive sections facing opposite directions; hammer-carrying rotors arranged in staggered formation are revolvably carried by horizontal shafts the axes of which lie in parallelism with the oblique walls in the planes separating any two successive sections.

United States Patent Inventor Andre F. Fourcade 227 Route de Saint-Simon, Toulouse, lhute-Garonne, France Appl. No. 712,981 Filed Mar. 14, 1968 Patented June 15, 1971 Priority Mar. 24, 1967 France 100,164

HAMMER-OPERATED ROTARY WASTE CRUSHERS 8 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

US. (I 241/138, 241/143 Int. Cl.. B02c 13/04, 1302c 13/20, B02c 4/02 Field ofSearch 241/138,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1912 lngraham 3/1917 Dodds 7/1932 Omurei 1/1935 Bennet .1:

Primary Examiner-Donald G. Kelly Attorney-Jacobs & Jacobs 24l/160X 241/1s9x 241/142x 241/13sx sections.

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I sum 3 [IF 4 4rroea/e ys HAMMER-OPERATED ROTARY WASTE CRUSHERS My invention has for its object a rotary crusher of the hammer-operated type which is of particular interest for the crushing of heterogeneous products such as city garbage.

All known crushers include a plurality of movable hammers carried by rotors and a plurality of anvil-forming stationary hammers or counterhammers; the outlet of the apparatus is therefore closed by a grate the larger particles being recycled so that they may be comminuted to the desired size.

The major drawback of such prior apparatus consists in that the grates are readily clogged and it is necessary to resort to intricate arrangements forming grate cleaners in order to reopen a passage through them.

A primary object of the present invention consists in providing a crusher of the hammer type including no grate, so as to cut out the drawbacks of the latter.

A further object of the invention consists in providing an abrading crusher wherein the products to be crushed are crushed not'only as well known in the art through operation of the hammers and counterhammers on the products to be crushed, but also under the action of the impact of the particles of the products against one another.

A third object of the invention consists in supplying a crusher constituted by a vertical piling up of a number of identical and consequently interchangeable elements.

A fourth object of the invention consists in providing a crusher constituted by a number of identical elementary channels adapted to operate independently of one another so asto make the assembled crusher suit the product to be treated.

With such objects in view, my improved crusher comprises a vertical channel of a rectangular cross section constituted by a plurality of oblique sections the slopes of which face alternatingly opposite directions, said channel carrying in each plane joining two superposed oblique elements the parallel shafts of a series of rotors carrying crushing hammers.

The accompanying drawings given by way of exampleallow a ready understanding of my invention. In said drawings:

FIG. I is an elevational partly sectional view of an embodiment of my invention, the section line being shown at I-I in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a plan view in cross section through line II-Il of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3a shows a plate having a smooth surface.

FIG. 3b shows a plate having an uneven surface such as from a checkerwork of grooves.

FIG. 3c shows a plate having bars.

FIG. 3d shows a serrated plate.

FIG. 4 shows a hammer.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an alternate embodiment wherein the channels have a decreasing cross section.

Turning to said figures, it is apparent that the crusher comprises a channel of a rectangular cross section constituted by a plurality of elementary superposed sections or channels l,2,3,4.

The sidewalls 5 and 6 of said elementary channels (FIG. 2)

are vertical, whereas their front and rear walls 7 and 8 are oblique. Said elementary channels are stacked over one another, the slopes of said oblique walls facing alternatingly opposite directions from one tier to the next, the walls designated by 7 facing one direction and those designated by 8 the opposite direction. In the example illustrated, said elementary channels are all identical, so as to be readily interchangeable.

Furthermore, the oblique walls 7 and 8 facing opposite directions include lateral extensions, as shown at 70, 7b, 8a, 8b in FIG. 2, which extensions act as counterhammers. They may be, according to the products to be crushed, smooth or provided with uneven surfaces (see FIGS. 3a, 3b and 3d) and they may even carry transverse bars (see FIG. 3c).

In the horizontal plane separating any two successive elementary channels, there are fitted the shafts of two rotors 9 illustrated as cylindrical members since their structure is irrelevant, as far as the present invention is concerned.

The locations of the shafts 10 carrying said rotors are defined in a manner such that the rotors lie in staggered relationship; in other words, the axes of the shafts 10 of the pair of rotors carried in one horizontal plane lie in a medial vertical plane at equal distances from the shafts 10 carrying the rotors of the pairs of rotors which are carried just above and un demeath the rotors considered.

In the example illustrated, each tier includes two rotors but obviously a larger number may be provided and in such a case it is essential for them to be arranged again in staggered relationship.

Preferably also, the relative size of the rotors 9 with reference to the sections 1, 2, 3, 4 are such that the gap A between two rotors in the same tier is substantially equal to the gap B separating the rotor in two different successive tiers.

Furthermore and as illustrated in FIG. 1, the two rotors 9 carried across the plane separating elementary channels such as l and 2 are fitted in a manner such that the left-hand rotor may be almost tangent to the walls of the angle formed by the dihedral defined by said wall 8 of the elementary channel I and the wall 7 of the elementary channel 2, whereas the other or right-hand rotor lies at a greater distance from the apex of the angle formed by the dihedral defined by the wall 7 of the elementary channel I and the wall 8 of the elementary channel 2.

In the example illustrated, the different rotors 9 revolve in the directions shown by the arrows drawn thereon and the operation of the apparatus is as follows: I

The products to be crushed are introduced into the upper opening 11 and drop into the uppermost crushing stage or tier including the two rotors 9 the axes of which extend along the plane along which the elementary channels 1 and 2 join each other. The products are comminuted by the hammers (such as illustrated in FIG. 4) and projected violently into the stationa ry impact areas D and E, A small fraction of the very finely subdivided particles passes between the left-hand rotor and the cooperating wall 8, while the major part of said particles drops into the next lower stage through the passage c formed between the right-hand rotor and apex of the corresponding dihedral forming an obtuse angle facing said rotor.

A typical hammer comprises an opening 21 across which passes the shaft on which it is mounted. The lower extremity 12 is curvilinear and comprises two lateral points 13 which enable better crushing to occur.

The products are then rolled between the successive rotors and furthermore they impinge against one another in the areas designated by A and B which form areas of floating impacts, said particles impinging also against the walls in the areas F, G, H, I, forming stationary impact areas, that is where the particles impinge against the walls, whereas they impinge against each other in the areas A and B.

Only a small fraction of the finely subdivided products may engage the right-hand side of the elementary channel 2,.so as to enter the next elementary channel and the particles are practically constrained to pass throughout the entire length of said elementary channel 2, so as to enter the left-hand side of the latter before dropping onto the third crushing stage or tier.

The operation continues thus downwardly from stage to stage and the crushed products pass finally out of the apparatus through its lower end.

It is thus apparent that the crushing in said apparatus requires no grate which cuts out any possibility of clogging and removes the necessity of resorting to the grate cleaning means generally used in prior crushers.

The garbage and like products are subjected to an extremely energetic crushing both by the hammers and counter hammers and by the shocks between the actual particles.

The different components of the apparatus are identical and consequently interchangeable, which furthers the replacement of any worn or damaged part.

The granulometric structure of the crushed particles depends not only on the speed of the rotors and on their spacing but also on their number and it is an easy matter to add further stages to a predetennined crusher or to remove some or, what is much simpler, it is possible to cut out the drive of a desired number of stages without any dismantling.

This bestows the apparatus described with an extraordinary adaptability in use, so that it may be applied to the crushing of products of many different kinds.

In a modified embodiment (see FIG. 5), the elementary channels show a decreasing cross section, whereby a better uniformity in size is obtained for the particles of crushed material; however in such a case the different elementary channels are of course no longer interchangeable.

.1 claim:

1. A crusher for garbage and waste materials which comprises vertical opposed sidewalls and parallel oblique front and rear walls connected to form an enclosure comprising a plurality of sections which enclosure has an upper and lower opening, the slope of said oblique front and rear walls in any two adjacent sections facing altematingly opposite directions and said front and rear walls forming an angle by the dihedral defined by adjacent oblique walls, a plurality of pairs of rotatable rotors disposed within said enclosure in such a manner that there are gaps between rotors comprising a pair and said pairs being offset from the vertical plane of each adjacent pair, so

that there are gaps between adjacent vertical pairs, said pairs being disposed so that alternate pairs have one rotor almost tangential to the angle formed by the dihedral defined by adjacent oblique walls while the remaining pairs have one rotor almost tangential to the opposite wall.

2. A crusher according to claim 1 wherein said front and rear walls have lateral extensions within the enclosure.

3. A crusher according to claim 2 wherein the surface of said extension is smooth.

4. A crusher according to claim 2 wherein the surface of said extension is uneven.

5. A crusher according to claim 2 wherein the surface of said extension has traverse bars.

6. A crusher according to claim 1 wherein the rotors are disposed on shafts and the axes of the shafts of each pair of rotors in one horizontal plane lie in a medial vertical plane at an equal distance from the shafts of the pairs of rotors just above and below.

7. A crusher according to claim 6 wherein the size of the rotors is such that the gap between rotors which comprise a pair is equal to the gap between the pairs of rotors above and below.

8. A crusher according to claim 1 wherein the rotors have hammers. 

1. A crusher for garbage and waste materials which comprises vertical opposed sidewalls and parallel oblique front and rear walls connected to form an enclosure comprising a plurality of sections which enclosure has an upper and lower opening, the slope of said oblique front and rear walls in any two adjacent sections facing alternatingly opposite directions and said front and rear walls forming an angle by the dihedral defined by adjacent oblique walls, a plurality of pairs of rotatable rotors disposed within said enclosure in such a manner that there are gaps between rotors comprising a pair and said pairs being offset from the vertical plane of each adjacent pair, so that there are gaps between adjacent vertical pairs, said pairs being disposed so that alternate pairs have one rotor almost tangential to the angle formed by the dihedral defined by adjacent oblique walls while the remaining pairs have one rotor almost tangential to the opposite wall.
 2. A crusher according to claim 1 wherein said front and rear walls have lateral extensions within the enclosure.
 3. A crusher according to claim 2 wherein the surface of said extension is smooth.
 4. A crusher according to claim 2 wherein the surface of said extension is uneven.
 5. A crusher according to claim 2 wherein the surface of said extension has traverse bars.
 6. A crusher according to claim 1 wherein the rotors are disposed on shafts and the axes of the shafts of each pair of rotors in one horizontal plane lie in a medial vertical plane at an equal distance from the shafts of the pairs of rotors just above and below.
 7. A crusher according to claim 6 wherein the size of the rotors is such that the gap between rotors which comprise a pair is equal to the gap between the pairs of rotors above and below.
 8. A crusher according to claim 1 wherein the rotors have hammers. 